News

One of Attorney Bill Loeffel’s cases was featured in the January 2017 edition of the Illinois Bar Journal. The article was entitled “Admissibility of Social Media Evidence in Illinois,” and was written by Richard S. Kling, Khalid Hasan, and Martin D. Gould. The article discussed different cases in Illinois and other states where social media evidence’s admission into trial was disputed.

One of the cases mentioned is People v. Nunn, 2016 IL App (3d) 140137-U, in which Mr. Loeffel was the defense attorney. He represented Peorian Robert Nunn, who was accused and convicted of first-degree murder in 2012. The appellate court overturned Nunn’s conviction because a Facebook message conversation between Nunn and another person involved in the case was not allowed into evidence at trial. Mr. Loeffel argued that the conversation showed Nunn had no intent to rob the victim, and was therefore entitled to claim self-defense in the shooting in which he and the victim exchanged gunfire at close range.

In the article, the authors used this case as an example that Facebook communications can be admissible at trial, and some cases’ outcomes will depend on whether the judge lets the jury view these types of messages or not.